Technology firms want some of the bandwidth allotted to federal agencies

A coalition of technology companies -- including some of the biggest names in the industry such as Apple, Samsung, and Intel -- have drafted a letter to Congress asking for more airwaves to be provided for smartphone and tablet computers.

The FCC is currently working on laws that would allow it to sell off some of the airwaves that TV stations currently own and allow cellular carriers to use the bandwidth. However, the companies believe that more options will be necessary to feed the [mobile] beast.

The coalition said in the letter, "authorizing new spectrum auctions is timely and relevant" with respect to the debate over the fiscal cliff.

The technology companies are urging both Democrats and Republicans on the House and Senate technology committees to consider auctioning some the spectrum currently used by federal agencies.

"Now is the time to ensure the incentive auctions are as robust and successful as possible at liberating spectrum. We should also turn our collective attention on ways to reap the economic benefits of underutilized federal spectrum assets," the companies wrote.

The coalition suggests that Congress should offer incentives to federal users to push them into becoming "more efficient, to share with one another, to vacate, or to lease their spectrum." The technology firms also believe that spectrum-efficient technologies will not be able to meet the increasing demand for mobile data, adding, "as technology companies, we joined this debate because policymakers need to know that we cannot simply engineer our way out of this problem.”